tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Dec 05 04:34:40 1995
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Re: KLBC - hello and questions
- From: [email protected] (Alan Anderson)
- Subject: Re: KLBC - hello and questions
- Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 07:35:12 -0500
[DaH jatlhbe'ghach jIH]
QetaH writes:
>I guess "Now I'm speachless." didn't come out quite right, eh?
No, for two reasons.
First, "speechless" is an adjective in English, and tlhIngan Hol doesn't
have adjectives. When used correctly, {-ghach} turns a verb into a noun.
Second, tlhIngan Hol doesn't use {jIH} to mean "I am" in this way. The
idea "be hungry" is represented in English with the verb "to be" and an
adjective "hungry", but tlhIngan Hol has neither of these concepts. In
order to say "I am hungry", one uses the VERB {ghung} "be hungry" with
the {jI-} "I" prefix: {jIghung}. If there were a Klingon verb meaning
"be speechless", you could use it. Since there isn't one, we'll have to
construct it. If I am speechless, I cannot speak. There, that was easy:
{jIjatlhlaHbe'}.
-- ghunchu'wI' batlh Suvchugh vaj batlh SovchoH vaj